Contents

Origins

When life forms started to attain sentience, their emotions were quite simple, though quite powerful in their own right. And in time, with each emotion came the belief of a deity to rule over it, and with the beliefs of the deities came the deities themselves.

When a large enough group of people would feel wronged, or a few people would feel especially wronged, they would give offerings to a deity they believed would bring justice to their transgressors. In several cultures, this would be seen as holy retribution, or perhaps divine intervention, and so this deity was often depicted as a holy beast, bathed in blinding white light. This concept and belief were so strong that eventually the deity came to be in the Higher World, in the form of a young Goddess that would come to be known as Pax-Nemesis.

Being the Goddess of a noble concept, Pax-Nemesis was seen as a sort of offspring of Nyermis, though she never saw herself as being particularly close to the Light Goddess, and so over time this carried over to Mortal beliefs, and Pax-Nemesis was no longer closely associated with Nyermis, though translations and beliefs could vary from civilization to civilization. However, the belief of a deity of justice was persistent in most if not all cultures.

As Pax-Nemesis "grew," she began to realize that some mortals were associating something else with justice, though it could be more of an unrealized feeling in some cases. There were some who wanted to see their transgressors harmed, to go beyond justice. These mortals didn't want simple justice.

They wanted vengeance.

It got to the point that mortals would come to Pax-Nemesis's temples and leave offerings and prayers for not only justice, but vengeance. Well, if they wanted revenge that badly, who was she to stop them? And hey, they left some good stuff. It was only just, after all.

The addition of a new concept was empowering for Pax-Nemesis. When she was simply the Goddess of Justice, she had been young and weak. Now that she was the embodiment of vengeance as well, she could feel how much stronger she had grown. Before, she had simply existed in an ethereal form, but now she could feel the power. She was strong enough to manifest in a physical form if the need arose. But what would it look like?

Pax-Nemesis's first form. After becoming the Goddess of Rage as well as Vengeance and Justice, she would take this form when using a more restrained amount of her power.

She recalled that, in times past, mortals would think of the Goddess of Justice as a divine beast, bathed in blinding light. Well, she may not have been as associated with light as before, but that didn't matter. She would give the mortals their divine beast.

Having a physical form also allowed her to travel to Ora, the realm of the Mortals that worshiped her and called on her for help. The first time she did so on a whim, and found that while her form was incapable of walking, she could exert her will upon the physical plane and teleport, so she could see as much of this plane as she desired.

She honed in on the desires for justice and vengeance, and eventually discovered the location of one of the temples dedicated to her. Intrigued and amused, she decided to investigate, and teleported there.

Her entrance was appropriately divine. The roof of the stone temple became bathed in blinding light, from which the shadow of a great mechanical creature appeared. The light remained, wreathing the shadow in its blinding rays. The majority of the mortals at the temple were terrified, but some watched in awe, as though they knew the reason for the figure's arrival.

The Goddess, in her form of metal and flesh and light, watched the mortals - her subjects, she supposed - flee and stare in fear and shock. She couldn't help but laugh. Mortals were rather amusing. So afraid of the unknown.

After a moment, she decided she should say something. "Do you not recognize your Goddess?" she asked in a distorted, mechanical voice. She could almost hear their tiny mortal minds stop dead in their tracks at the realization as their eyes went wide as the burning ball of plasma above them (she'd heard it was called the Sun).

It only got better from there. A moment later, an older human near the front got on his knees and bowed to her. From there, the domino effect took over, and within seconds, the entire crowd was on their knees, silent, bowing to her.

So this was what it was like to have a following.

Amazing.

It was at that moment that Pax-Nemesis realized that she needed to keep these mortals happy. Their lack of faith in her could readily result in her fading from existence. And, of course, keeping them happy was almost intoxicating. And revenge was always fun, so it all worked out in the end.

The Symbol of Pax-Nemesis. It is used in art to represent her and her power.

With Vengeance now a part of her as well, Pax-Nemesis could feel her following grow larger day by day, even once she returned to the Higher World. She could also feel herself growing farther from the Light, which wasn't an issue to her. It had never mattered to her anyway. She supposed it was due to vengeance being a more neutral concept, but she didn't care. Light didn't translate to morally good anyway; she'd seen some Light gods do some disturbing things in her time.

Her following grew and grew over the years - her subjects even created a symbol meant to represent her and her power - and as time went by, she started to sense a recurring emotion in the hearts of her subjects: Rage. Its strength and depth varied, but it was usually there. Her following wasn't large enough to draw on this power...at least, not yet. So she resolved to monitor it, and bide her time for now...

Ascension and Cleansing of Ora

In the year 15 BST, centuries after she made her first appearance on Ora, Pax-Nemesis was almost ready to lay claim to the emotion of Rage as a power source. Mortals had grown more and more wrathful over the years, and the sheer power behind it was immense. The time was nigh, and with this new source of vitality would come her ascension to true power. She would be in a whole new tier of power among the Gods and Goddesses.

She was waiting idle when she felt a massive spike of Rage from Ora. She knew that the time had come. This was her moment, and if she didn't take it, some other deity would, or worse, it would become an entity all its own.

Pax-Nemesis knew what she had to do. She extended her ethereal form over Ora and drew deep of all of the rage she could find.

The power was like a drug. She almost felt dizzy from it all. She quickly regained her senses, however, and coalesced back to a physical form at the point that had the greatest source of Rage - coincidentally, the same location that had put out that massive spike she'd felt before.

Thinking that subtlety might be in her favor, the Goddess of Justice, Vengeance, and now Rage decided to test the limits of her newfound powers by taking a different form, one that would allow her to blend in, at least somewhat. "Perhaps one a bit more mobile as well," she thought as she began to coalesce, for the first time, into her human form.

When she was done, she took some time to look her new body over. The motions were tricky, that was for sure, but she couldn't deny the beauty to it. Sure, the rainbow hair might not have been that inconspicuous, but she looked GOOD! Well. By mortal standards, at least.

She found herself in what she'd come to know from her time among mortals as a city. This particular one she'd recognized plenty of times. Mistral. It was infamous for its criminal activity, and with that criminal activity came a thirst for vengeance from both the innocent and the guilty. Of course, the Goddess didn't care who followed her so long as she had followers.

This particular part of Mistral was one unfamiliar to Pax-Nemesis. It seemed more well off than some of the others. Usually the more poverty-ridden ones had the highest crime rates, which led to a greater thirst for vengeance and justice, though she supposed there was a first for everything. In this instance, the source of the spike of rage had come from a neighborhood of rather large houses. On somewhat wobbly, inexperienced legs, Pax-Nemesis walked down the street to investigate her target.

When she finally arrived, she figured she had at least gotten the basics of walking down, though stairs were some of the most diabolical inventions she had ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

She quickly reminded herself that the payoff would be worth it, and, using her powers to open the locked door, made her way into the house, which she found to be surprisingly pleasing, aesthetically at least. But then came the sense of Rage. It was strong in this place, and fresh as well. She followed the emotion until she found its source: a dark-haired mortal woman angrily pacing about the house's kitchen, muttering angrily.

Pax-Nemesis chuckled. So this was the one who had allowed her to become so powerful. Her rage was strong, yet unfocused. She was angry, yes, but had no direction for this pure energy. The Goddess knew how persistent such unadulterated Rage could be. It would slowly kill this woman's mind. Paranoia would be an early warning. Oh well. She was the Goddess of Rage, not creativity; all she could do was help people with their revenge plans, not give them ideas for them!

A few more years went by, and Pax-Nemesis found the true cause of the woman's Rage. Her family had been robbed of their livelihood; their source of income that had been in their family for generations. And what's more, it had been taken by a corrupt government that tainted all the land.

It was at this point, in the year BST 7, that Pax-Nemesis realized that Ora was dirty, and desperately needed to be cleansed. She couldn't do it herself, though...if only someone could operate in her stead...

She quickly found herself drawn to a young boy by the name of Sanguine Love. To mortals, he appeared ordinary, but Pax-Nemesis could see more. She could see that this boy had the potential to perform great feats of magic. He just needed a little push...and she would give it to him.

Pax-Nemesis's true form, unrestrained. This is the shape she takes when she fights using all of the power at her disposal.

She appeared before him in a vision, though not in a form she had taken before. She constructed a new body that would allow her to use the new extent of her power, and showed Sanguine a construct of this new shape while he slept.

The Goddess, her voice mechanical and distorted, her new form wreathed in blinding light, told the thirteen-year-old Sanguine that the world had to be cleansed, and he would be the one to do it.

The boy, coming from a religious household, swore that he would do as commanded. Pax-Nemesis commended him, and said that when he awoke he would have the means to do so. With that, she cut off the vision, allowing Sanguine to sleep peacefully once again.

Satisfied with her selection, the Goddess retreated to Ora to consolidate her power and observe her chosen warrior's progress. To her amusement, his family had tried to lock him in an insane asylum. It seemed, however, that this was just the push he needed. He ran before he could be taken, and survived on his own using the new abilities that Pax-Nemesis had awakened. "Yes," she thought. "He will do well."

Unfortunately, it seemed Sanguine was a bit slow to get the memo on just what cleansing meant, so Pax-Nemesis decided to push him in the direction of someone who could get him to do what she wanted. The organization was radical but young, and they would benefit from his skills.

Satisfied with Sanguine's progression, Pax-Nemesis went idle once again for a brief period of three years, though she continued to give Sanguine visions, congratulating him when he did as she asked and telling him to continue to please her.

The Ascension of the First Angel

Three years later, in the year BST 3, the Goddess felt something...familiar. A desire. No. A burning need for justice and vengeance, fueled by rage. Someone who had all three concepts she embodied within them truly merited her attention, and so she decided to investigate.

Journeying to Ora once more, she found herself in Mistral, this time in an area dominated by skyscrapers. Under the cover of the night, observing the area in her ethereal form, she quickly found the source of the need and homed in on it, finding a lone girl in what looked like some sort of school uniform holding a katana in her right hand walking up to an office building. She stormed in and cut down two security guards, though soon found herself pinned down by two more.

When they sent the grenades forward, Pax-Nemesis knew it was her turn to intervene. Focusing her power, she gave the girl a compressed vision - one that would give her a vast amount of information in mere seconds. In the vision, the Goddess appeared before the girl in her human form with only a bit of soft rainbow light behind her, rather than the usual harsh light.

She explained to the girl that there wasn't much time, and that she didn't have many options: she could die right there when the grenades went off, or accept Pax-Nemesis's help and receive the power to destroy those who had wronged her. The girl accepted without hesitation.

The Goddess instantly whisked the girl off to a pocket dimension she'd created. She had based it off of the wrathful woman's house she'd visited so many years ago, but added her own touch. Whereas the original had been in primarily shades of blue and white, this copy was in gold and silver livery with touches of white or bronze. Much better for a goddess such as herself.

It was in this location that Pax-Nemesis would Ascend her first angel. The girl, who she now recognized as the daughter of the woman who had fed her so much pure Rage. It was allowing things to come full circle, in some twisted fate. But that wasn't Pax-Nemesis's concern. She had a messenger now, one who would spread her word wherever she decided it needed to go. For the moment, she decided to focus on her goal of cleansing Ora, and sent her angel to the same organization Sanguine had joined.

The Ascension of the Second Angel

It would not be long before she set her sights on another angel. This one, however, would come from different beginnings.

The goddess Ixchel would fall to a mortal who had no name. Ixchel, who despite her weakness had an angel of her own, would fall swiftly and without warning. Therefore, this angel would have no warning when they answered the goddess's call, only to find her dead, with her only remains being a mortal shell.

The angel's surprise swiftly led to vast amounts of rage, as well as thirst for justice and vengeance, which attracted Pax-Nemesis like a fly to honey. Before the angel could be absorbed by the mortal, the Goddess of Justice, Vengeance and Rage pulled them into her own dimension, allowing them to rest in her recreation of the mortal dwelling from all those years ago.

She appeared in her humanoid form and began to speak, but before the angel could so much as respond, the mortal returned. Using all of the power he had taken from the countless gods and goddesses he had felled, he broke into the Goddess's pocket dimension, killed the angel with a seemingly impossible amount of blades, and killed and absorbed the angel.

Unfortunately for this interloper, he had just made Pax-Nemesis very mad.

She'd had plans for that angel, and this pathetic meddler had just ruined them. This could not be tolerated, and so, justice would be done, vengeance would be served, and the Goddess's rage would be sated. This would be accomplished by throwing the mortal into Incarceron.

Dispelling the house and replacing it with a simple, awe-inspiring setting of a rather large, flat area composed of square tiles of glass-like, transparent material that seemed suspended in mid-air over some ruins placed atop a mountain. Around this area was blue sky, with a few clouds scattered about.

But what dominated this area was Pax-Nemesis, the Lady of Retribution herself, in all her glory and splendor. She had assumed her true form at full power to deal with this interloper. She was enraged, and he would pay dearly for disrupting her plans.

This foolish mortal had made a grave mistake; he had created a need for justice to be done, he had incited a thirst for vengeance within the Lady herself, and above all, he had made a powerful goddess very, very angry. In short, he'd given Pax-Nemesis plentiful access to all three of her aspects, thereby allowing her to swiftly and efficiently remove this interloper from her sight.

She reached out to pull open the portal to the Prison of the Gods, but found that the interloper had called on the power of a slain deity of time to reset the scene to previously, when the goddess Ixchel had been slain. In doing this, the meddler had also attempted to prevent her from gaining her stores of power and revert her to her humanoid form, but had failed to realize that because she had taken her true form in her own dimension and had not been present when Ixchel was slain, the time shift did not affect her.

Therefore, Pax-Nemesis remained in her true form, and retained her power, as well as her own emotions. And it was with this power that she would banish this fool to Incarceron.

She tore open the portal to the Prison, but before she could throw him in, the meddler grabbed Ixchel, who had just appeared, and tore off her tail. In a desperate bid for her life, the goddess of the rainbow of the moon fused with her alternate aspect, known as Jericho, thereby giving up her animalistic appearance and much of her power. She was weak, but she was alive. She called out for her love, the Champion of Light, and he appeared, taking the newly formed Jericho-Ixchel and himself to his own dimension, as well as unintentionally bringing along Pax-Nemesis and the interloper.

The interloper, as well as Pax-Nemesis, had not noticed the shift, and therefore continued as though they were in the mortal realm. However, when the meddler tried to kill Jerixchel, the Champion of Light exerted his influence over the dimension and the pathetic meddler's attacks withered away to nothing. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done, as Ixchel retreated deep into the core of the being, leaving only Jericho.

It was at that moment that the most unexpected of events occurred. A powerful demon, known as Evil Eye, intervened. Under ⟐'s humanoid guise, known as Syn, ⟐ tore the angel out of the interloper by spacially separating the two, swiftly returning the angel to Pax-Nemesis and dragging the Champion of Light off into the night.

Thoroughly shaken by the appearance of such a powerful entity and not wanting to risk further confrontation, Pax-Nemesis retreated to her own dimension on the plane of glass. After shifting to her humanoid form and taking a moment to process what she'd just witnessed, she returned to her full power form and began the process of resurrecting the angel.

Optimally, a god of death would perform a task such as raising the dead, but, seeing as one wasn't available, Pax-Nemesis would have to do it herself. Fortunately, because she still had access to such volumes of power, she could accomplish this task, though it would be far from perfect.

By first linking the soul to the body using residual rage and then using those links to retrieve the wayward soul, the Goddess was able to begin the process of resurrection. She tore open the core of the body's essence and then, using the utmost care, placed it back into the body.

Side effects were immediately obvious, though seemingly not detrimental. The angel looked markedly different externally, with some of the soul's energy having leaked out, though so far, they seemed functional. Surprisingly enough, the angel seemed to be just as strong, if not stronger, than it had been previously, and was now devoted to the Lady.

The Lady, pleased with her new servant, dismissed it, and began her plans to further grow her power. At this rate, her plans would come to fruition soon...very soon...